How Hearts can win Scottish Premiership title tonight | OneFootball

Celtic fighting to keep thrilling race alive ahead of potential final-day decider

An enthralling Scottish Premiership title fight could end tonight as Hearts and Celtic both return to action.

One of the most incredible championship battles witnessed anywhere in European football across recent seasons looks set to reach a fittingly dramatic conclusion this week.

Surprise package Hearts are looking to clinch their fifth top-flight title overall and first since 1959/60 after a truly remarkable campaign under Derek McInnes, becoming the first non-Old Firm club to do so since Sir Alex Ferguson’s Aberdeen in 1985/86.

It has become an exclusively two-horse race between Hearts and Celtic since a costly run of three successive defeats saw Rangers and Danny Rohl exit the picture.

The leaders host mid-table Falkirk at Tynecastle on Wednesday evening in their penultimate fixture of the campaign, while Celtic are on the road at fourth-place Motherwell.

Hearts were again indebted to inspirational captain Lawrence Shankland for rescuing a point at Fir Park on Saturday night, before Celtic then cut the gap at the summit to just a single point on Sunday by coming from behind to beat wounded Rangers 3-1 at home in the final Old Firm derby of the season - with Daizen Maeda netting a remarkable overhead kick.

Hearts travel to Celtic on the last day this weekend in what many are presuming will be a straight shootout for the title, yet we could be denied that stunning finale if things play out a certain way tonight.

How Hearts can win Scottish Premiership title tonight

Sitting a point above Celtic with just two games to go, Hearts will clinch their first Premiership title in 66 years on Wednesday without the need for a nerve-shredding final-day decider if they beat Falkirk and Celtic are defeated by Motherwell.

That is the only way that the title race can end before the weekend. If both teams win or draw their penultimate matches, then Hearts will remain top and the gap will stay at one ahead of Saturday’s massive showdown in Glasgow.

If Hearts win and Celtic draw, then Hearts would go into the final day sitting top with a commanding three-point advantage and leaving Celtic with it all to do to win and also overturn a sizable goal difference swing at Parkhead.

Hearts’ superior goal difference - currently +32 compared to Celtic’s +29 - means if they lose to Falkirk and Celtic draw at Motherwell, then they will remain top with both teams level on points.

Celtic cannot win the title on Wednesday, but will go top heading into the final day if they beat Motherwell and Hearts either lose or draw against Falkirk.

Rangers, meanwhile, are locked into third place and can no longer hope to catch either of the top two, sitting seven points behind Celtic and eight adrift of Hearts ahead of their meeting with Hibernian, while they have an 11-point buffer to Motherwell, who are trying to hold off fifth-place Hibs with a four-point gap and clinch the final spot in Europe next term.